Vauxhall 30/98 E Tourer by Damyon
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Car producer : |
Vauxhall |
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Model: |
30/98 E Tourer by Damyon |
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Year: |
1913--1922 |
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Type: |
Tourer |
The Vauxhall 30-98 is a car manufactured by Vauxhall Motors Limited at Luton, Bedfordshire from 1913 to 1927. In its day, its best-known configuration was the Vauxhall Velox (velox, veloc- being Latin for "swift"/"fleet" and the source of English velocity) standard 4-seater with open tourer body. Vauxhall's own description was the 30-98HP Vauxhall-Velox sporting car. The 30-98 is also known to enthusiasts by Vauxhall's chassis code E.
The first 30-98 was constructed at the behest of car dealer and motor sport competitor Joseph Higginson, inventor of the Autovac fuel lifter. He won the Shelsley Walsh hill-climb motoring competition on 7 June 1913 in his new Vauxhall, setting a hill record in the process, having in previous weeks made fastest time of the day at Waddington Pike and Aston Clinton.
However they were not racing machines but fast touring cars. The exhaust made a tranquillising rumble, there was no howl, no shriek, no wail. But there was the quiet satisfaction, if stripped for action, the car could lap Brooklands at 100 mph (160 km/h). The makers guaranteed that. Some owners had to watch their car be given the test to be reassured.
The 30-98s used the Prince Henry chassis, they were distinguished by having more-or-less flat rather than V-shaped radiators. Laurence Pomeroy took the Prince Henry L-head side-valve engine, bored it out 3 mm, then cold-stretched the crankshaft throws 5 mm using a steam power hammer to lengthen the stroke. The camshaft was given a new chain drive at the front of the engine, high lift cams and new tappet clearances. The Prince Henry chassis was slightly modified and the whole given a narrow alloy four-seater body, a pair of alloy wings (front mudguards) and no doors.
Before war intervened only 13 30-98s were made and they were for selected drivers, the last in 1915 for Percy Kidner a joint managing director (CEO) of Vauxhall. Actual production began in 1919.
